Jazz
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT FINISHED AND SOMEONE IS PROBABLY WORKING ON IT PLS DON'T FUCK IT UP ;_; Ever wondered what would happen if you let more or less uneducated musicians play arround with limited range of instruments and have their way with things like composition or orchestration? Jazz would happen, and caused one of the most glorious messes ever. A (very) abriged history of jazz Jazz happened when Dixieland Music and Ragtime collided in the beginning of the XXth century. considering how much it borrowed from both genres, it is hard to set a precise date and say "yeah, this is when Jazz appeared". Because of the similarities between early Swing and Dixieland Music, you could say it strted in the last years of the XIXth century. But you could also say that it didn't start until the influence of Ragtime brought the soloists to a new place within the band format that was inherited from Dixieland Music. However, if you really need a date, it is safe to say that jazz started to matter and to eveolve from its original sources in the 1910s. At this point, Swing already includes some elements that would later define various branches of jazz. Singers and soloists alternate during the songs, each other playing the same simple melody and derivat from it with some arpeggiations and all kind of other simple tricks. Some fully instrumental bands also paved the way to the Big Band formation that would formally appear a bit later. This early version of Swing gained popularity over the years for a few reasons : *It started to attract more experimented musicians,making it more complex, well composet, etc. *It also started to attract white musicians. And in the United States of the early XXth century, that was a big deal. In the 20s, Swing composers and musicians start to become actually famous, and not just some kind of local novelty. Infact, by the end of the 30s, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong are some of the richest musicians out there, as well as some of the most notorious. On the other hand, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller (and many, many other band leaders who were so forgettable that once race stopped to matter, they were indeed forgotten) made jazz more acceptable to the white audience. The fact that some composers and soloists were becoming more and more popular also meant that every musician had to do his best to raise up the level. Recordings did not matter nearly as much as they did later, so playing in front of an audience was the way to go, and to set the bar higher, musicians had to improve their playing. This ended with more and more virtuosity in order to stay competitive. That alone would not be interesting if some composers did not also try to experiment a bit with what they had (which is the formation inherited from Dixieland Music, with a brass section, drums, a string section), sometimes reducing the size of the band, etc. The combination of that virtuosity and experimentation in composition ended up giving a brand new branch of jazz that was fast, intense, solo-driven and actually quite different from what the audience was used to. That's how Bebop was born. It was basically swing, except faster and more complex, with impressive tempos and adanced harmonies, as well as improvisation. Yes, at this point, wankery became an appreciated and rewarded kind of interpretation. Another important thing Bebop did was moving the focus of the music from dancing to listening. Because it was so fast and loud, dancing became hard if not impossible and thus stopped to matter. Wait, that sounds familliar, doesn't it? Section heading Write the second section of your page here. Subgenres *Swing *Bebop *Vocal jazz *Cool Jazz *Avant-garde *Free jazz *Fusion *Smooth jazz *Gypsy jazz *Latin jazz Derivates *Post-avant jazzcore *Regular jazzcore *Punk jazz *Nu jazz *Jazz rap *Shibuya-kei *Neo soul Category:Jazz